Globalisation...................

[Roger Mazengarb 0]

QANTAS is too good an airline to go under Chapter II."THE international consortium targeting Qantas for takeover has pledged not to move the Australian carrier offshore.Roger

[mgh 89]

What's this report of a takeover bid got to do with Chapter 11?

[Guest Fortress]

Do they even have Chpt 11 in Aus?Cheers,Paulhttp://www.strontiumdog.plus.com/temp/avsim.gif

[mgh 89]

I doubt it.

[Guest Shalomar]

Roger is from Australia, so he says chapter 11 they must have the equivelent.Best Regards, Donny:-waveFLYing? It's cool. Trillions of birds and insects can't be wrong.

[mgh 89]

It still doesn't explain his connection between a takeover bid and Chapter 11 or its equivalent in Australia.

[Roger Mazengarb 0]

Guys,I posted to be controversial, but not antagonistic. Really just to make people think - but you do have to join the dots yourself. :-)The title should give you a hint. For the record - there is NO chapter II in Australia!!. Once upon a time we had a great airline "Ansett". Alas poor Ansett, I knew him well.Ansett was bought out by foreign interests and the rest is history.My concern is that Qantas will suffer a similar fate.At present there is a 49% cap on foreign ownership of Qantas but I don't trust politicians. They can be persuaded only too easily by big business. Most of our iconic Australian business's have been taken over by foreign investors. Even Vegemite is owned by Americans ; and they hate the stuff :-lolCheers,Roger

[mgh 89]

Ansett failed because of competition, top-heavy and overpaid staff, an aging fleet, and having to ground its fleet of ten 767s because of maintenance irregularities, including major checks months overdue, incorrect components fitted, and incorrect stowage of emergency slides on arcraft in service. These left it short of cash and it went under despite its owner, Air New Zealand, being bailed out the the New Zealand government. When Ansett went belly-up in 2001 it owed its staff $735M. By August 2006 it had only paid them $650M. I doubt these staff think it was a good airline.

[Roger Mazengarb 0]

I hope you are not a Kiwi mate and I don't wish to offend but I have worked as a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer for a couple of international airlines and there is nothing you have said that couldn't be applied to EVERY airline in the world. >Ansett failed because of competition, top-heavy and overpaid staff, >an aging fleet, and having to ground its fleet of ten 767s because >of maintenance irregularities, including major checks months >overdue, incorrect components fitted, and incorrect stowage of >emergency slides on aircraft in service.Oh you forgot to mention "the hangar cat was having kittens" :-lol . This is typical spin doctoring. Muddy the waters; drag as much mire into the equation as possible to camouflage the real reason.If ANY business fails - stand up the owners/board/management.> These left it short of cash and it went under despite its owner, >Air New Zealand, being bailed out the the New Zealand government. Therein lies the true reason for Ansett's collapse. The owner hit hard times and it's subsidury was a victim.As I previously stated I don't want to start an argument about as to why Ansett failed. It just didI don't want the same thing to happen to Qantas. - that's all.Cheers,RogerBTW My next door neighbour is an EX Ansett employee.Ansett HAD extemely proud, loyal employees.

[mgh 89]

Can you let us know which airlines you worked for so we can avoid them?The Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) first grounded all Ansett's 757s in December 2000 after it found out that the 25000 cycle ultasonic check on the fin had not been carried, with at least one aircraft having exceeded this by 5000 cycles. CASA grounded them again a few months later when according to CASA "a significant maintenance error over the weekend. It led to the aircraft flying for eight flights with passenger safety seriously jeopardised because none of the escape slides would have worked on that aircraft." In between, CASA had been concerned that timely action had not been taken to deal with cracks found in the engine pylons.Some of the reasons it was open for takeover was the bad investments it had made, including America West Airlines (filed for bankruptcy), Hamilton Island Resort (which went under), and the amount it paid to be offical airline to the Sydney Olympics.And your neighbour's still an EX employee and, unless he left before the failure or is lucky, is probably still owed money.

[Roger Mazengarb 0]

Is English your first language? You appear to be having a problem comprehending my posts.? All the detail points you raise has very little to do with the problem. As I said, ask anyone who has worked in ANY airline and they will be able to list maintenance stuff-ups.To believe otherwise is naive in the extreme. It's like believing pilots have never made mistakes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_New_Zealand For anyone interested above article pretty much sums up the real reason for the collapse of Ansett. Foreign ownership, Political interference and corporate greed. I would hate to see Qantas go down a similar path >And your neighbour's still an EX employee and, unless>he left before the failure or is lucky, is probably still owed>money.Actually if my memory is correct I believe that all outstanding money payable to Ansett employees has finally been settled. I must ask my neighbour.This is my last post in this thread. Roger

[mgh 89]

English is my first language, I am not naive and so do understand the point you are trying to make..You said that Ansett was a "great airline." A great airline. surely, is one which is safe, and which financially sound.Ansett obviously failed on both of these. I don't think that an airline that has its aircraft grounded twice in a few months and is threatened by having its Operating Licence withdrawn can be described as safe, even though you seem to think such lack of attention to safety is acceptable and common in the industry.As far as its finances are concerned, the link you give says that before the takeover by Air New Zealand: "Ansett held close to half of the large Australian domestic market but had been declining for some years. Market analysts reported that Ansett had under-performing major assets and an ageing fleet, and needed a capital injection of at least $A300 million to shore up its weak balance sheet.". Hardly a great situation. I suggest that it was already on the way out then and that the takeover merely delayed its final collapse.The Administrators latest payment to Ansett staff was made on 7 September 2006 when they said they hoped to make further payments over the next one to two years - so money is still outstanding 4 years after the collapse.http://www.ansett.com.au/media/media_f.htm